In 1986, Hyundai first started its Australia operations with a single dealership in Perth and in 2003, Hyundai Motor Company Australia was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korean parent company, becoming the first Korean manufactured car to be marketed in the Australian Automotive Industry.
KIA was the second Korean company to operate in Australia, however it should be noted that in 1998, Hyundai Motor Group purchased KIA to keep it afloat but ever since then both companies have operated totally independent of each other.
In those early days, the only Hyundai you could buy was the Excel and I like many others of the time wondered what would become of Hyundai in the years to come.
In fact in the early 2000’s, I vividly recall having a conversation with well-respected motoring journalist Josh Dowling when he was assisting us on the Nine Networks ‘The Car Show”, I asked him his thoughts on Hyundai and it’s future, his answer was quite emphatic – their cars are really good and will only get better, and he believed Hyundai would become one of the world’s most successful car manufacturers ….. and he was right on both fronts.
For example, in the recent 2022 World Car of the Year awards which is decided by a global jury of 102 automotive journalists from 33 countries, the winner was the ground-breaking electric fastback SUV, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 which also won the World Electric Car of the Year, the World Car Design of the Year and the World Car Design of the Year, whilst Hyundai’s Chief Creative Officer, Luc Donckerwolke, was named the 2022World Car Person of the Year.
The three other World Car of the Year awards for 2022 went to the Audi e-tron GT electric luxury car for the Performance Car of the Year, the Mercedes-Benz EQS electric limousine was chosen as Luxury Car of the Year, and the Toyota Yaris Cross was named as Urban Car of the Year.
So where to from here, Hyundai recently released this video which shows how Hyundai’s N Brand is bringing electrification technologies to its next generation of high-performance models. It looks at how they are advancing battery electric and hydrogen hybrid technologies, to achieve N Brands vision for electrified high-performance and it also gives a glimpse of the much-anticipated IONIQ 5N which is wrapped in a camouflage membrane with a pixel and chequered flag pattern.
Hyundai N – Story of Rolling Lab, Future of High Performance
Vice President of N Brand Management & Motorsport sub-division at Hyundai Motor Company, Till Wartenberg said, “Hyundai N Brand is one of the fastest evolving high-performance brands in the world. All our plans are on the right track to be carried out in line with our vision for electrification. The success story of rolling labs highlighted by RN22e is a perfect prelude to our N Brand’s very first battery electric production model, the IONIQ 5 N, coming soon”.
If you’d like to find out more on Hyundai Motors and its product line, which is certainly far more extensive than just the Excel of twenty years ago, the website is: worldwide.hyundai.com
To tempt you even more, this video specifically looks at the Hyundai N Brand and what it’s achieved in a very short period of time: